Disabled persons often encounter problems with movement and mobility, particularly when it comes to maneuvering devices such as wheelchairs. In addition, for both medical and entertainment purposes, hand-free controlled vehicles and wheelchairs have been sought after to offer alternative solutions relating to particular needs of individuals. Many solutions have been provided to provide advances in electric mobility, particularly with maneuvering electronic wheelchairs, but each solution has introduced new problems in the art.
Existing solutions in the art have many shortcomings which have plagued technologies set out to solve similar problems. One attempt includes “sip and puff”, which makes use of an air pressure induced switch. However, the sip and puff systems are invasive and requires complete user focus and attention. In addition, sip and puff motorized systems do not allow for fluid movement. Moreover, in the event of a seizure or other neurological shock, nothing in the sip and puff system stops the system, and to include such a feature in a sip and puff system would require a constant sip or puff control during the operation of the wheelchair, which could cause other issues.
Some attempts result in a delayed or prolonged reaction time to get to every pre-programmed direction, thus it becomes burdensome and provides less ubiquitous movement. The predetermined positions and angles pre-programmed into the motion controller become user unfriendly and a burden for a user to use.
Other solutions use a visual indicator that cycles through a group of predetermined commands, which one must try and stop the visual indicator on the command or control they desire. In addition once a direction is selected on the visual indicator the visual indicators remains activate for a predetermined amount of time when activated. The features limit the control a user has, and in many situation can be dangerous to a user. For example, in these configurations if a user is close to a staircase they would want to be able to directly control the amount of time the controller is activated and not have it based on a predetermined time. This can cause a delay in control time as it will take additional time to cycle from forward position to reverse position.
Yet additional solutions attempt to use an indirect controller where the user needs to look at the controller in order to know which direction he/she will go. This makes the user take their eyes off their surroundings while driving. This solution is often disrupted if there are loud noises in the environment.
Thus there remains an unmet need for a ubiquitous EMG signal controller that allows a user to provide signals without having to direct their attention to any visual or audio indication in order to provide desired motion signals to an EMG motion controller.
It is appreciated that the disabled usually have neurological or central nervous disabilities to accompany their physical or skeletal or muscular disabilities, thus it is common that disabled users are subject to seizures or other neurological shocks and involuntary movements. The current solutions do not include the ability to provide an emergency stop in case a user has seizure or other medical condition that causes user to lose control of muscles. Thus there remains an unmet need to provide an EMG control system that stops movement in the event of erratic muscle movements.
Finally, other solutions prove difficult to integrate into other wheelchair controls/devices such as the device can only use the pre-set commands listed on the visual indicator. Thus retro-fitting an existing chair becomes impossible and often adds additional elements causing failure. Thus there further remains an unmet need for a system that can be included in a kit for retro-fitting an existing motor vehicle or wheelchair.
To date no solution has been offered to overcome any of the shortcoming described in the industry of electronic wheelchairs for disabled persons. Consumers are often frustrated by the lack of any solutions to this problem, and consequently there remains an unmet need.